Remnant II

by Randi Darren

  Opening his eyes, Steve looked around.

  Lucia, Jaina, Geneva, and Nancy were all talking off to one side. Hiren and Felisa were nearby, and Felisa was coming back with one of his canteens.

  All around him, though, were soldiers of Faraday and citizens, watching their current champion servicing him.

  He looked down at Siena for a moment to watch her pretty face as it moved to and fro, her red hair shifting as she did so. Her eyes were closed, apparently not wanting to watch him. Felisa and Beati had both stared up at him, which was curious now that he thought about it.

  “Here you are, my lord,” Beati said, coming back and handing him the canteen.

  “Good, where were you bit?” Steve asked, lifting his hand from Siena’s shoulder and taking it.

  “My forearm,” said the knight, then held up her arm.

  Sure enough, there was a bleeding and ugly bite there.

  “Hmph,” Steve said. He opened the stopper on the canteen with one hand, then tipped it to the side over the wound for a single second.

  As soon as the water hit her skin, it lit up in small flames.

  “There we go,” Steve said as the flames died away. Looking up at Beati’s face, he could see a faint sheen of sweat on her brow. “Take a drink of this and put it back. Don’t be so careless next time. You can’t serve me if you’re dead.”

  “I… yes, my lord,” Beati said, taking the canteen from Steve. She immediately took a drink, capped it, and hung it on her hip.

  Closing his eyes, Steve put both hands on Siena’s head and started guiding her with the speed he wanted.

  With any luck, he could unload in her mouth before the queen arrived.

  “Just like that, Siena,” Steve said, his fingers curling into her hair.

  Twenty-Two

  The clatter and clank of armor and boots drew Steve’s attention away from Jaina. She was busily draining Creep out of the wounded and then cleansing wounds with water.

  They’d originally just tried it to conserve water, but it seemed to be working.

  And empowering Jaina at the same time.

  “It’s the queen,” Siena said and then coughed.

  Again.

  She’d been coughing since Steve had finished in her mouth a few minutes ago. Apparently, it’d shot straight into the back of her throat.

  Even though he’d warned her it was coming, she still hadn’t been ready.

  Nancy had been merciless, however. No sooner had Steve gotten done with her, she’d taken Siena away from prying eyes and put her into the same black-magic contract that Hiren, Beati, and Felisa were under.

  Coughing and sputtering the entire time.

  “Good,” Steve said. He patted Jaina on the back and looked at his Kobold. “You got this?”

  “Of course, of course,” Jaina said with a grin. “This is far too easy now. All of it is. I’m your alpha Creep Witch.”

  So the more I use her, the stronger she gets. I need to take the Creep Witches with me to the wall. Drown them in battle and soak them in combat.

  I could conquer Lamals with them.

  I wonder how frightening Nancy would be as a Creep Witch.

  Standing up straight, Steve walked over to where the street wound up to the gate that used to stand. Right where the battle had occurred.

  Heading his way were six women, forcing a seventh between them ever onward. He imagined the seventh was the queen. She didn’t look quite human, though. Her ears were odd, her eyes canted in a way that didn’t look normal, and her cheeks and jaws seemed wider.

  By the time they reached Steve, Geneva and Lucia had joined him.

  “Steve, would you please execute her for me?” Geneva asked.

  “Course,” Steve said. “I’ll even do it in your name as the rightful military governor of… uh… what the fuck is this all called?”

  “Eastern Lamals,” Geneva said.

  “Uh, kay. Whatever. Military Governor Gennie of Eastern Lamals,” Steve said.

  “Thank you, Steve,” Geneva said.

  The knights, because that was clearly what they were, reached Steve and tossed the false queen down to the ground in front of him.

  “Now see here,” said the woman, glaring up at Steve. “I’m of the nobility of Lamals and the rightful—”

  Steve’s hands whipped out in front of him and clapped together on either side of the woman’s head. Directly atop her ears.

  With a sickening crunch and clicking noises from her skull, the false queen fell limp to the ground. She hit the stones with a pop as her skull bounced off it. Her eyes rolled up into her head and her breathing was strange.

  She was clearly already unconscious and probably dying.

  “I sentence you to death, in the name of Geneva Gosti, the rightful military governor of Eastern Lamals!” Steve yelled even as he moved to stand over the top of the one-time mayor of Faraday.

  Sitting down on her expansive chest, Steve began to punch her face repeatedly. Alternating left and right hands, he didn’t stop.

  He was making a point. Had been making a point.

  Any and all resistance would be met with overwhelming violence from here on out. The only possibility of non-violence was absolute submission.

  When the false queen’s head was little better than a mess of meat, broken bones, and blood, Steve finally stopped.

  “Cut what’s left of her head off, then impale her corpse and stick it outside. From her crotch to her neck,” Steve said. “City’s yours, Gennie. Do as you like. I’m going back to camp now. I’m tired.”

  Getting to his feet, Steve bent down and wiped his bloody hands on the queen’s beautiful dress.

  ***

  “No bandits outside,” Geneva said as the column of soldiers, wagons, and supplies came to a stop outside of Hilast.

  “As I said,” Xivin said with a nod. She was sitting in the wagon with Lucia. She did all she could to assist whenever she could, but the simple reality was she was very limited. It was obvious to Steve her mindset was changing further and further from where she’d once been as well.

  In fact, he’d bet on this excursion having sealed away whatever had remained of the Elven sword master.

  “While Filch was the smallest and we had no knights, we were well trained, fortified, and knew our business. Bexis and Faraday were never as well trained as we were, despite being larger,” Xivin said with no lack of pride. “Hilast and Rennis should be free of banditry due to their distance from the citadel and the wall.”

  “Grass seems better, too,” Steve said, kicking a foot against the bright green leaves under his boots. “Gets pretty brown the closer you get to the citadel. Or that’s what it looked like when I saw it last.”

  “Hmm. I’m afraid that with the return of the Creep, my plans are now in disarray,” Geneva said. “After seeing Filch and Bexis, and what Faraday did to protect themselves… no, my plans won’t work.”

  “We could just have Steve conquer all their champions again, one blow job or kill at a time,” Lucia said with a soft laugh. “Though I’m afraid it did annoy me watching them service my husband. And here I thought I was beyond jealousy.”

  “I mean, I guess,” Steve said. He didn’t quite like that idea, but he wouldn’t be against it if it got the job done.

  “Let’s treat with the mayor first,” Xivin said. “Perhaps she’ll have been more prudent up to this point. We should send a messenger out.”

  Steve nodded at that. It’d only been a few days since they left Faraday. The Creep had come back every single night. The only thing that kept the column safe was Jaina’s nightly watch.

  Though it did mean the Kobold spent most of the day sleeping in the wagon. The Creep was determined to break through her shielding each night.

  Jaina had said the first night had been the worst; every night after that had gotten easier.

  I need more Creep Witches. And now.

  “You handle that,” Steve said, then turned and started walking toward the
back of the column.

  He’d brought a number of water barrels with him.

  We’ll offer the knights the chance to die for me and be reborn as Creep Witches. In exchange, I’ll remove their statuses and modify their deals a bit. So they aren’t as absolute.

  Nancy, too. Though that might be a bit different.

  She likes it the way it is right now.

  The crunch and thump of the four champions behind him was all the proof he needed that his knights were there.

  “Nancy,” Steve said.

  “I’m here, Steve,” Nancy said, coming to walk next to him. She’d apparently been right behind him with his knights.

  “I want to offer you and your knights something,” Steve said. “This is an offer, which means it’s completely volunteer only. You can say no.”

  Looking back over his shoulder, he found the four knights watching him. They were dressed in their full armor, but their helmets were all under their armpits.

  Wouldn’t figure them to have surrendered and given me head with how they look.

  Even Hiren goes down on me on command.

  Turning back to the front, Steve continued.

  “I want you to die for me. I want you to let a Creep bite you, die, get dunked in a large pool of water, and come back as a Creep Witch,” Steve said. “You’d be just like Jaina. Which is what happened to her. Then I—”

  “Of course,” Nancy said immediately. “But only if you strangle me to death, right before I turn. Then I’ll agree. And after I turn and come back, I guarantee your bedroom knights will agree.”

  The fuck?

  And what does she mean bedroom knights? Is that what she’s calling them?

  “If Nancy comes back… alive and fine… I’ll… agree as well,” Hiren said.

  “I’ll die with Nancy,” Felisa said, once more the overeager one.

  “I’ll wait to see what happens,” said Beati.

  “Yes,” Siena agreed.

  Steve gritted his teeth, realizing Nancy would finally get what she wanted to a degree.

  “This is the one and only time something like this will happen,” he said, glaring at her.

  “You’ll do it?” she asked, sounding beyond excited.

  “Yeah. This one time.” Steve felt somewhat sick with himself. He really didn’t like the idea of actually harming Nancy.

  She was different. Crazy in her own way.

  But he did have a strange bit of care for her. He didn’t like the idea of hurting her, even if it was what she wanted.

  The closest he got was the light and rough stuff he did with Kassandra and Ina.

  “Could you maybe ra—”

  “No,” Steve said before she could even finish. He knew exactly what she was going to ask, and he had no intention of fulfilling that.

  “Okay,” Nancy said. “Make sure you kinda run me on the edge for a while, though. Like what you did with Hiren.”

  Steve closed his eyes, suddenly regretting this. But he needed more Creep Witches, immediately. He’d have to wait till tonight for them to get bitten, but he could at least prepare everything else until then.

  Two hours later and one head-deep pit, a messenger arrived from Hilast. The mayor would be willing to meet and discuss things. She’d prefer it to be a location between the encampment and the city.

  Out in the open.

  She was going to bring three people with her. So Geneva could bring three as well.

  Which meant Geneva, Steve, Lucia and Nancy would be accompanying her to the meeting.

  “I wonder how this’ll go,” Lucia murmured, moving with the ethereal grace she always seemed to have.

  “Dunno, don’t care,” Steve said. “We have other shit we need to work on. This is a distraction we need to stomp out.”

  “Indeed,” Geneva said with a nod of her head. “We should be focusing on our battle with Linne.

  “I’m sure she’s heard I’ve arrived by now. Which means she’s probably building her forces.”

  “Oh, we definitely have other things to do, but this isn’t so bad,” Lucia said, waving a hand dismissively. “We got a commitment of soldiers from the new mayor of Faraday, and they had quite a few knights left. Even some knights from Bexis.

  “If we can line Hilast and Rennis up, and receive troops, this’ll be significantly easier. Don’t get me wrong, Linne will have some very well-trained soldiers, but she has no food or clean water. We have both.”

  “There they are,” Nancy said.

  Up ahead, Steve could see four people. One was dressed rather richly, and three were in knight’s armor.

  Steve couldn’t tell what their races were from here, but they seemed to be more on the “bestial” side of things. The woman in the flashy garb was actually sprouting antlers from her head at the temples.

  Now that he looked, all the knights also had antlers coming up from their helmets. Steve had taken them as decorative.

  There was a rectangular table set out with eight chairs as well, four to a side.

  “Another queen?” Steve asked.

  “Yes,” Geneva said with a sigh. “Maybe you really will have to do a repeat performance. Her species tends to fight anyone and anything.”

  Explains the antlers, I guess. Still kinda weird, though.

  “Huh,” Steve said, then sighed as well. “Whatever. I don’t mind collecting knights, I guess. It’s just… not very quick. Might be fun to hold onto their antlers.”

  “I want to say I’m the bigger woman and I can handle that, but I’d really rather not watch a bunch of strangers go down on you, beloved consort,” Lucia said. Her words had none of the teasing mischievousness he’d come to expect from her.

  Apparently it genuinely bothered her.

  “Do what I can to prevent that,” Steve said. “Can’t promise it, though. Sorry, my butterfly.”

  As if in response to his words, Lucia’s hair fluttered as her gossamer-like wings flicked out from behind her and beat several times before lying back down on her back.

  “I find I actually like that nickname. Considerably more than I thought I would,” she murmured. “Do what you must. Just… try to spare me if possible.”

  “Ho there,” called one of the female knights, waving a hand above her head.

  “Greetings,” Geneva called back. “I’m Her Majesty’s military governor, Geneva Gosti, deployed to handle and administer her rule to Eastern Lamals.”

  “So I see,” said the richly dressed woman. “I’m Queen Valist, first of my line, ruler of Hilast and Rennis.”

  “Oh? That’ll make this easier, then,” Geneva said, walking straight to the table. She held a hand out toward the other woman.

  “I don’t think for an instant this’ll be easy,” Valist said, though she did take Geneva’s hand and shake it.

  “It really will be. I’ve been sent to do exactly what I said. Bring everything back to order,” Geneva said. “In addition, I have tools and the ability to fight the Creep. I can even stop someone from dying of Creep disease. Beyond even that, I can actually bring someone back to life who’s died to the Creep. Providing their body hasn’t been completely destroyed.”

  Geneva pulled a seat out and sat down at the table. Everything she’d said was what they’d all agreed previously that she’d tell them.

  If it was possible to bring them into the fold without fighting, all the better.

  “I… see,” said Valist. “And what would you have me do? Give up my crown?”

  “Yes,” Geneva said as Steve, Lucia, and Nancy all took seats as well. “Because your crown is false. I speak for her majesty in this, and she’d be willing to forgive your transgression. You weren’t aware that the capital and the queen were fine.”

  Fat chance of that. She probably just thought she could get away with it.

  Valist and her knights all took their own seats, the false queen looking like she was deep in thought.

  “In other words, I’d become mayor of Hilast once again,” she said.
“I don’t find that very… beneficial to me.”

  “The alternative is the same thing that happened to Faraday,” Geneva said. “My champion defeats eight or nine in a row of your champions, then you get your head cut off and your body impaled, then put out front like a decoration.

  “No, that isn’t a threat—that’s really what happened. This is my champion right here, by the way.”

  Geneva lifted a hand and laid it on Steve’s shoulder.

  “Hmph,” Valist said. “I’m dealing with an unwed, without-child noble with nothing between her ears, it seems. Why would I ever agree to a champions’ duel with you?”

  “Unwed,” Steve said. “If she was wed, you’d agree to the battle? A champion’s duel for your crown?”

  “Of course,” Valist said with an exaggerated sigh. “It’s a shame, though, isn’t it? She’s not wed, and you’re just a human.”

  Steve looked at Geneva, wondering how she’d like to proceed. She had mentioned that this could be an issue.

  “So be it,” Geneva said. “I’d hoped to not have my first time until after all this, but it seems that’s for naught.”

  “I beg your—no,” Valist said, looking at Steve, her mind clearly jumping tracks.

  “Betrothed, I’d ask you to please wed me here and now,” Geneva said, standing up. She began working at the armor around her hips. “She already stated that’d satisfy her needs to a champions’ duel for her crown.”

  Shrugging, Steve stood up as well and started unfastening his belt.

  “Goodness, it seems this entire trip is just me being forced to watch my husband in almost every sexual act possible,” Lucia said with a growl to her voice. “I’m not a cuck-queen—this isn’t something I enjoy. It’s different if I’ve prepared the entertainment myself.”

  Feeling bad about it but unsure how to really move forward other than with what Geneva had suggested, Steve couldn’t really look at Lucia.

  “Oh, I know, I know. It’s what must be done,” Lucia said, her tone cooling off somewhat. “I just really don’t like it. At all.”

  Geneva laid her armor down on the table with a clatter.